White Burgundy vs.... New Zealand Chardonnay!?
Marche Moderne, Costa Mesa, CA
Tasted November 4, 2009 - November 5, 2009 by clayfu with 826 views
Introduction
A collaboration of Jay Selman, Michael Brajkovich, and an employee of Wilson Daniels (to my knowledge) set up a tasting event at Marche Moderne at South Coast Plaza. The tasting focused on the winery "Kumeu River Wines". Michael is the winemaker and proprietor of the wines. The winery itself is located in Auckland, New Zealand. Michael mentioned that his family has been making wine for decades and have concentrated on making white wines for quite some time. A self acknowledged Burg-head he finds inspiration from Burgundy and its french techniques.
So for this dinner we did four flights, 4 wines for flights 1-3 and 2 for flight two. Half of the wines in each flight were poured blind. Half of the wines from each flight were from Kumeu River and the other half were White Burgundy. I applaud the hosts for working with the restaurant cause each flight matched perfectly with the dishes served.
Flight 1 - First flight - four wines. (4 notes)
Paired with Big Eye Tuna Crudo, smoked sea salt, passion fruit sphere, yuzu kosho vinaigrette
A strong nose of reductive character with some vanilla oak and ripe apples. A really intricate palate that I found hard to pinpoint the exact flavors but flavors were shooting out from everywhere. You got some granny smith apple, a bit of rubber on the mid palate, then suddenly you are awash with lemon and bam some vanilla oak mixed in with wet rock. Short finish with low-medium acidity.
Incredibly rich on the nose like a bushel of apples but the palate didn't match the freshness of the nose. A really fat flabby wine, some more apple but there was just so much oak, wood, and vanilla. The oddly long finish was marred with alcohol and wood. It's saving grace from plummeting to a below 80 score is its nose.
Flight 2 - Second flight - three wines (3 notes)
Paired with Roasted Petoncles scallops, liquid potato, Parmesan and black truffle cappuccino
Sweet red apple on the nose with a touch of honey. At first I thought it was a CA chard, caramel and sweet fruit on the palate. Lean with soft acidity.An interesting finish of grapefruit rind and sweet lime.. but what was a pleasant finished had noticeable alcohol accompanying it.
There was some smoke, with citrus on the nose and prickly heat.
But this wine really blew me away on the palate. There were just layers of flavors sitting on top of each other on accompanied by a really calm, soft mouthfeel. There was soft lovely sweet fruit on the palate perfectly balanced with some hay and wood and it all just worked very well with one another. Long acidity with the best minerality out of all the wines of the night that was accompanied by sharp citrus that rolled around in your mouth on the finish.
Flight 3 - Third flight- four wines (4 notes)
Paired with Veal Cheek blanquette, chanterelle risotto
fresh peach pit notes and cactus on the nose. Soft acidity with delicate pretty layers of flavor on the palate. A hint of vanilla on the back end but it's a really nice soft wine... On my notes I wrote pretty 3-4 times.
Flight 4 - Fourth Flight - two wines (2 notes)
Paired with Assen Lupe Goat cheese, honey comb, and almonds
reductive nose with hints of gasoline, chestnut, with a deep ripe fruit nose. The palate greets you with an almost nutty lemon taste. The palate is probably the ripest out of all the ones we've had. A bit of alcohol on the finish but there was also smooth acid running alongside the finish.
Closing
This tasting was a real eye opener to me, if not most everyone at the table for NZ Chardonnay. NZ Chard seems to get masked and abandoned due to the prevalence of NZ Sauv Blanc, which is a pity. The wines were well made, concentrated, filled with wonderful acid and most importantly inexpensive. They outpaced the white burgs on most of the flights. I'm not saying NZ Chard > White Burgundy.. but just in this specific case they performed better. But we were comparing some pretty hot vintages of white burg to the cool refreshing NZ Chard... which I think makes a big difference on the palate. When the 07 Leflaive was poured it blew every other wine off the table. Unfortunately for the 07 Leflaive.. it cost 5x the price of the Kumeu.
Thank you Jay for posting this event and inviting us all to join for a great tasting and an excellent educational experience. Also Thank you Michael for pouring all your wines for us.